How much worse could a robot drive? This might be the summer America

Waymo is now clocking more than 250,000 paid rides a week , on track to double last year’s total.

Tesla says it will deploy “full self-driving” taxis in Austin this month .

The two approaches could not be more different, in ways that suggest different possible futures for what autonomous vehicles mean for society.

Frida Ghitis : If Waymo ’s high-cost model proves to be the path for self-driving tech, we might see a divide between rich, deep markets that justify its presence.

She says Waymo will cost the same to deploy in a rich city and a poor town, and see much less demand in the latter.

Ghitis says this boom will decrease transit ridership and increase traffic congestion; cities try to wield congestion pricing against an adversary.